In southern New England, selling seafood by the seashore is a little like catching fish in a barrel.

Waterfront restaurants with a reputation for good seafood are as sought out in the summer as pumpkin farms offering hayrides in the fall. But even an iconic seafood restaurant has to keep up with customer’s changing tastes, said Lobster Pot owner Jeffrey Hirsh.

With a prime spot overlooking Mount Hope Bay in Bristol, R.I. the Lobster Pot is one of those go-to spots for dining on the freshest of New England’s seafood with a view to match. And it’s frequented almost as much by southeastern Mass residents as those on Rhode Island’s East Bay, said Hirsh, who bought the Lobster Pot 28 years ago from descendants of the Brownells, who founded it in 1929.

Over the years, Hirsh said he made changes to the interior and updated menu items as tastes changed. And decades before the Buy Local movement changed diners expectations, Hirsh said he was an ardent believer in buying from area purveyors: seafood caught from fishing boats from Newport to New Bedford, and in the summer, produce grown on area farms.

And now, the Lobster Pot is undergoing another renaissance with a new expanded menu with dishes to please their loyal customers who have frequented the restaurant faithfully for decades, and fare to attract new generations. Some of the new additions to the menu include Pepper Seared Tuna Steak; Shrimp and Chourico Saffron Ragout with Linguini; Roasted Cod with Seafood Bread Pudding topped with lobster butter; and Vanilla Curry Scented Seared Salmon served with Jasmine Rice and Pickled Apple Salad. There’s also more choices on the Raw Bar and new appetizers (Crab, Artichoke, Cheese Dip) and lighter menu items including a Clam Roast with grilled bread, that’s already become a hit with their diners, he said.

“There’s so many new, trendy restaurants around. As a long-standing restaurant, we walk a fine line adapting to new trends and staying true to our traditional dishes,” said Hirsh.

And topping the list of those long-standing dishes is lobster: broiled, grilled and boiled, and in the Lobster Saute and the Baked Stuffed Fisherman Style for those who prefer not to shell it themselves. There’s also the ever-popular lobster salad roll and plenty of seafood favorites still on the menu including baked stuffed shrimp, broiled scrod, fried clams, oysters and New England Scallops Nantucket, a baked, crumb-topped version with sherry and cheddar cheese.

The menu is 80 percent seafood, said Hirsh, but there’s also plenty of beef and chicken dishes, as well as some vegetarian offerings (Grilled Vegetable Plate) and several gluten-free items that are noted on the menu for those who are avoiding gluten. “The beauty of this menu is that most of the dishes can be done to please a variety of diets — we have that flexibility,” said Hirsh of the restaurant’s willingness to meet with their customers’ dietary needs.

Page 2 of 2 - Over the past 28 years, Hirsh said some parts of the restaurant business have remained the same, but one thing has changed. “It used to be that if you had good food at a fair price that you’d survive, but that’s not good enough anymore,” he said.

Nowadays, he said they have to stay current with a variety of aspects of the business, from the menu and decor, to cocktails for changing tastes and all the while, not turning away loyal customers.

“The challenge is keeping a balance between new and old (menu items) and I think we’ve done that pretty well,” he said.

The Lobster Pot is located at 119 Hope St., Bristol. For more information, visit www.lobsterpotri.com.